Republican candidates for governor this year agreed on two points clearly Tuesday: Colorado needs a new kind of leader, they said, but no new taxes.

In a Denver Post debate, candidates staked out their positions on a variety of issues, including toll roads, TABOR, guns, immigration, wildfires and marijuana.

The Republican candidates who participated — Greg Brophy, Jason Clark, Steve House and Mike Kopp — also said the GOP has to run a better campaign to defeat Gov. John Hickenlooper.

"I think we have to understand what the people really want," said House, a businessman who serves as chairman of the Adams County Republican Party.

The Denver Post hosted a debate among four of the Republican Party primary candidates for governor at the Denver Post Auditorium in Denver, Colo., on Feb. 18. 2014. From left, Sen. Greg Brophy, businessmen Jason Clark, the Denver Post politics editor Chuck Plunkett, statehouse reporters, Lynn Bartels and Kurtis Lee, Steve House and former state Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Jason Clark, a money manager from Aurora, said the party can't continue to alienate so many voting blocs — such as gays, women and Latinos — and expect to carry the day in general elections.

"All you have to do is do the math," he said.

Brophy said the next state leader needs a head for business.

"To beat John Hickenlooper, you have to have someone who has real business experience," said Brophy, who at another juncture in the debate called himself "bicycle-riding, Prius-driving farmer from Wray."

"You have to have someone who can out-business his business experience," he said.

Kopp said Colorado's economy suffers because businesses are overburdened by regulations.

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"Businesses in our state feel like the government is out to get them," he said

Hickenlooper, as expected, took repeated broadsides in the first formal debate of the race.

"John Hickenlooper has not led us well," said Kopp, the former state Senate minority leader who lives in Jefferson County.

"While he's a nice man, he's let us down."

The two top fundraisers in the race so far — Secretary of State Scott Gessler and former Congressman Tom Tancredo— were absent, both saying they wouldn't debate other Republicans.

Their four opponents said leadership and reaching the voters was more important than a well-stuffed war chest.

"I think if you're going into a job interview, you have to be able to answer the questions," House said . "You have to be able to articulate a vision. ... As a voter, I'd like to see them here. I'd like them to articulate their vision and answer the same questions we're answering."

Clark was humbled some, however, on a question about his Facebook postings, including one that referred to people hiding under their desks and urinating on themselves during the school shooting at Arapahoe High School in December.

"I'm human. I made a mistake," he said. "I have no excuse for it. ... Sometimes my passion does get the better of me."

All four were cautious about their positions on regulating marijuana, though all said they opposed the use of the drug itself.

House thinks that, long-term, the social problems will outweigh the tax revenue off pot's retail sales. Brophy said the legislature is doing a poor job writing the regulations, which he thinks the state will be stuck with for decades.

"We're not doing it the way it ought to be done," Brophy said, who said voters intended for pot to be regulated like alcohol.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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